Winifred Gallagher:

The glory of the disposition that stops to consider stimuli rather than rushing to engage with them is its long association with intellectual and artistic achievement.  Neither E=mc² nor Paradise Lost was dashed off by a party animal.

Frank Schaeffer:

Another name for uncertainty is humility.  No one ever blew up a mosque, church, or abortion clinic after yelling, "I could be wrong."

Sex, Mom, and God, p. 73

Sarah Schulman:

Withholding creates tension; acknowledgment creates relief.

Ties That Bind, p. 117

Margaret Lee Runbeck:

Happiness is not a station to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.

Larry King:

Over the years, so many of my guests told me they'd opened up because they felt comfortable.  You learn a lot when people feel safe.

Truth Be Told, p. 186

Mark Twain:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover.

Ricky Martin:

Life's most valuable lessons are learned in absolute silence.

Me, p. 159

Karin Bergquist:

Writing for me is an ongoing, necessary form of discovery/self-discovery.

Sarah Schulman:

Remember, people scapegoat the powerless because there is no consequence for doing so.

Ties That Bind, p. 97

Frank Schaeffer:

Most religious leaders would rather share their wives than their major donors.

Sex, Mom, and God, p. 108

Spanish Proverb:

Nothing has ever been written about cowards.

George Takei:

Infinite diversity in infinite combinations -- therein lies our strength and therein lies our joy.

"George Takei's pursuit of 'infinite diversity'"

Margaret Lee Runbeck:

Learning is always rebellion...  Every bit of new truth discovered is revolutionary to what was believed before.

Martin Luther King Jr.:

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

Sarah Schulman:

When a society is not willing to confront the consequences of its cruelty in public, our contemporary culture offers privatized therapy as the only realm where its consequences might be addressed.

Ties That Bind, p. 61

Larry King:

Success comes from thinking brazenly.

Truth Be Told, p.162

Frank Schaeffer:

The history of theology (Christian or otherwise) is the history of people desperately trying to fit the way things actually are into the way their holy books say they should be.

Sex, Mom, and God, p. 72

Ricky Martin:

Life is so much more beautiful when you live it with open arms, your guard dropped, and without anxieties or secrets.

Me, p. 12

Leonard Cohen:

There's a crack in everything.  That's how the light gets in.

Rachel Held Evans:

True maturity is marked not by how much a person knows but by the wisdom he or she shows in discerning when to speak with authority and when to hold back.

"Driscoll, 'Real Marriage,' and Why Being a Pastor Doesn't Automatically Make You a Sex Therapist"

Sarah Schulman:

Since gay people face false accusations and shunning every day and in every arena of life, our behavior and state of mind can be deeply affected by either withstanding the assaults, or desperately trying to avoid them.

Ties That Bind, p. 14

Larry King:

Can somebody tell me what the Tea Party is all about?  They say that God is being taken out of our Constitution.  Well, God isn't in the Constitution.

Truth Be Told, p. 146

Mahatma Gandhi:

God, help me to tell the truth to the strong and to avoid telling lies to get the weak's applause.

Frank Schaeffer:

The more doubts I had, the farther to the Right I moved ideologically, as if shouting loudly enough and demonizing any who disagreed with me could solve my real problem: the growing realization that the Bible is horribly flawed.

Sex, Mom, and God, p. 70

Ricky Martin:

Life is a  journey and every step we take moves us in some direction.  When we are ready and willing, we learn, we advance, and we grow.  But it's very easy -- and very common -- to not take that first step and to stay exactly where we are, because after all, that which is familiar is usually the most comfortable.

Me, p. 9

Albert Einstein:

The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.

Sarah Schulman:

Saying nothing while your friend's family or lover or society or cultural institution shuns and scapegoats her is to participate in the process.  Yes, it would be better for you, spiritually, to tell the truth to the perpetrator.  But, more importantly, her chance for a decent life depends on it.

Ties That Bind, p. 171